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Bank Account Safe From Credit Card Debt

By Cathy Moran

credit card offset

Your bank can’t take your money in an account to pay their credit card. That’s one less thing to stress about. Credit cards and bank accounts are an exception to the old saw that possession is 9/10th of the the law. After all, the bank would have possession of the money on deposit and a […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: discharge, offset, set off

When You Can’t Pay Your Bills Because Of The Virus

By Cathy Moran

virus and money

The coronavirus has us locked at home where the  worry demons play unrestrained in our heads. Money troubles cause us worry, in “good” times.  These are hardly good times. As more and more of us are hit with shelter-in-place orders that keep us from work and our kids from school, we have even more time […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 2020, coronavirus

What’s New In Bankruptcy Law in 2021

By Cathy Moran

new in bankruptcy

The new year of 2021 brings us face to face with a desolate economic landscape and the hope of better things to come. For some significant slice of Americans, bankruptcy will be a consideration. You’ll want to know what’s new in 2021 in the array of bankruptcy options and alternatives. I’m writing after passage of […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 2021

California Gets New Homestead

By Cathy Moran

California homestead

The California Legislature enacted a dramatic increase to the state’s homestead law at the very end of the legislative session in August. It became effective January 1, 2021. The dollar amount of the homestead increased to a minimum of $300,000 and a maximum of $600,000. Gone is the link between marital status or dependents. Every […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: exemptions, homestead

Tax Liens Live On After Bankruptcy, Unless….

By Cathy Moran

You mean the tax liens won’t  go away when I get a bankruptcy discharge? The client was startled that the lien would live on beyond his bankruptcy. So, if all my debt doesn’t go away, what do I get from the bankruptcy discharge?  he asked. I thought the tax debt went away when I filed. […]

Filed Under: Featured, Life after bankruptcy, Taxes, True Stories

The Most Powerful Debt Management Tool

By Cathy Moran

debt management tool

The most powerful debt management tool isn’t a software program. It isn’t a website, nor a consulting firm. It isn’t even a calculator. The most powerful debt management tool is a letter opener. If you don’t open the mail, you don’t really know where you stand with your creditors. If you don’t open the mail, […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: debt management

10 Things Every Attorney Should Know About Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

know about bankruptcy

Financial stress is everywhere. It pops up in family law, litigation, business, and our dealings with taxing authorities. Every lawyer can better serve clients if they know a bit about bankruptcy, regardless of the focus of their practice. Here’s my list of bankruptcy basics for lawyers that every practitioner should know to guide clients to […]

Filed Under: Featured

10 Things Personal Finance Bloggers Need To Get Right About Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy truths

Too many personal finance bloggers need to sharpen their game when it comes to bankruptcy. Personal finance bloggers do so much good promoting better financial habits and deeper understanding of money. But too often they drop the ball when it comes to bankruptcy. One, they get the basic facts about bankruptcy wrong; and Two, they […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: bankruptcy myths

Myth Of The Corporate Credit Card

By Cathy Moran

business credit card

As far as myths go, the myth of the business credit card ranks right up there with  unicorns, Big Foot, and leprechauns . Every struggling small business owner who crosses the threshold of my office believes that his corporate credit card is not a personal debt. Wrong. In 41 years of bankruptcy practice, I have never seen […]

Filed Under: Featured, Small business Tagged With: 2017

How Creditors Spread Fear Of Bankruptcy For Profit

By Cathy Moran

  The unknown is often fearful. My colleague Peter Orville wrote It is natural to be afraid of doing something you’ve never done before, like filing for bankruptcy protection. This is especially true if you’ve heard stories about why you shouldn’t file bankruptcy. Peter has it right.  Some trepidation is natural. My beef is that […]

Filed Under: Featured

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Bankruptcy Basics

About The Soapbox

You’ve arrived at the Bankruptcy Soapbox, a resource of bankruptcy information and consumer law.

Soapbox is a companion site to Bankruptcy in Brief, where I try to be largely explanatory and even handed (Note I said “try”).

Here, I allow myself to tell stories and express strong opinions. We dig deeper into how to consider bankruptcy and navigate a bankruptcy case.

Moran Law Group
Bankruptcy specialists for individuals and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area

How Bankruptcy Works

Cheat Sheet For Passing Bankruptcy Means Test

The bankruptcy means test has a fatal weakness in its attempt to keep people out of bankruptcy. Like so much recently, it's health care. It's health care, in the future, to be paid before your creditors get any money in your bankruptcy. It works because, in a logic that only Congress could employ, the means … Read more

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